Optical reduction printer



Oct. 18, 1938. A. w. CARPENTER OPTICAL REDUCTION PRINTER Filed July 18, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet l IN VENTOR. AW. CAQPENTEQ ATTORNE 4 SheetsSheet 2 ////fl// Q m M x M mm f a .m

ATTORNEY Oct. 18, 1938. A. w. CARPENTER OPTICAL REDUCTION PRINTER Filed July 18, 1935 Oct. 18, 1938.

Filed July 18, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 R 9 In A T H l W E N h h V E N m P 7 R n 3 A C o A w I I I P l a 7 I x 7 5 B 0 4 w 7 H z m 5 I In M w I 9 W\ -11- FIEl 2.

ATTORNE Patented Oct. 18, 1938 PATENT OFFICE 2,138,537 OPTICAL BEPUCTION PRINTER. Arthur W. Carpenter. New York, N. Y., assignor toUnltedlteaeas-chCo po ration, Long Island City, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application Jilly 18, 1835, Serial No. 31,968

'lClaims.

This invention relates to optical printing of motion picture film and particularly to continuous optical printing wherein a reduction in size is made between the negative film and the final positive print.

In the art of printing motion picture films, and particularly talking or sound films bearing both images of pictures and sound, common driving means have been employed for maintaining the proper relationship between the films and the proper displacement between the picture and sound images. A printer of. this general type is disclosed and claimed in my joint patent with Maurice G. Ricker, No. 1,993,085 of March 5, 1935. The present invention has several of the broad features of the patent such as a common sprocket and an optical path between the positive and negative, the direction of the film being such that the projected image travels in a direction to provide a correct print. The present inventionis directed to an optical printer inwhich the negative images, picture and sound, are eillciently printed on a smaller sized film than that of the negative. This involves the necessity of obtaining proper synchronism between, for instance, a

35 mm. negative and a 16 mm. positive, and making proper optical transpositions for obtaining the proper proportions of the smaller images. This is accomplished by a novel combination drive sprocket stabilized by an integrally mounted flywheel. Specially constructed pad rollers under control of tensioning and dampening means aid in providing uniform advancement past the printing apertures. Theaperture gates have film supporting or stifi'ening shoes which longitudinally curve the film between the apertures and sprocket to prevent sprocket teeth fluctuations from affecting the movement of the film at the apertures.

An object of the invention, therefore, is to accurately drive and correlate a large negative film to a smaller positive film during the continuous printing thereof.

A further object is to facilitate the driving or advancing of different sized films at separated points while maintaining a uniform and stable advancement at these points.

The various features of the invention and the details thereof will be more fully understood by reference to the following description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a motion 55 p ct e fi m p in m ying y invention.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevational view of my invention taken along line 22 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevational view taken on line 3-3 of Hg. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

8. 5 is a sectional line H of Pig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a front view of a common lead sprocket partly broken away.

Fig. l is a sectional of Pig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a side view of the eccentric adjusting member employed in the common lead sprocket.

Pig. 9 is an end view of the eccentric member taken in the direction of arrow I of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a mask which permits both sound and picture to be printed upon the positive film.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the mask which is employed to print only the picture part upon the positive Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the mask which is employed to print only the sound track upon the positive film.

Referring now to Fig. 1, it will be noted that the negative take-up roll i is driven by a take-up spindle I having a fiange 3 at the rear thereof. The spindle 2 is journalled in a bearing formed on an arm 4 projecting from the main wall section I. The negative supply roll I is carried on a free spindle I which has a rear flange 1' thereon. The spindle I is journalled in the end of an arm I provided on the opposite side of the wall I.

from the upplyrollt thefilm lisledundera a5 snubbing roller ll, over a guide roller II, and then around a drive sprocket II.- A pad roller 7 II of the type described and claimed in the copending application of Ernest Ross and Axel 8. Ellason, Serial No. 27,157 filed June 18, 1935, is provided to hold the film in engagement with the sprocket II. From the sprocket i! the negative forms a free loop I 3.

Asiswellknownto thosefamiliarwiththeart, the negative may have certain parts which have considerably more density than others, that is, when pho ographing. the light conditions for one scene may have been much better than for another. Therefore, one scene will show up lighter than another. This varying density of the nega- 5o tive is usually compensated for by either varying aperture or by varying the intensity of the printing light. One of the many methods of automatically varying the intensity of the printing s t employs a contactor switch ss elevational view taken on a elevational view taken on 10 view taken on line 1-1 I4 which operates a suitable variable resistance within the lamp circuit and which, in turn, is operated by notches or grooves placed at intervals along one side of the negative. As this method of varying the intensity of the printer light forms no part of my present invention I will not describe it in further detail.

The negative, after forming the free loop I3, passes through the switch I4 and thence between a pair of edge guiding rollers I1 and through a projection gate generally indicated at l6 where the image of the negative is projected downwardly onto the raw positive film. From the projection gate I6 the film is led between a pair of edge guiding rollers l5 and thence onto a portion of the outer toothed surfaces of a common .double lead sprocket I8, the details of'construction of which are described and claimed in the co-pendlng application of Ernest Ross, Serial No. 15,771, filed April 11, 1935.

As shown in Figs. 6 to 9 the sprocket I8 comprises a pair of flanges I30 and I3I having toothed sprocketdiscs I32 and I33 attached thereby by clamping discs I34 and I which are secured by screws I35. The flange I3I has a hub portion I36 formed thereon on which the flange I30 is mounted. A pin I50 (Fig. 6) prevents relative angular movement of the two flanges I30 and I3I. On the inner side of the flanges I30 and I3I is mounted a pair of smaller toothed discs I31 and I38 being spaced apart by a spacer ring I39. A pluralltyof clamping bolts I40 are mounted through apertures MI in the flange I30, through elongated slots I42 (Fig. 6) and are threadably secured within the flange I3I. In order to angularly adjust one pair of toothed sprocket discs in relation to the other, an eccentric I43 is provided. The head I44 of the eccentric I43 engages an elongated groove I45 provided in flange I30. A projection M6 on the rear end of the eccentric I43 is rotatably mounted within an aperture I41 extending through the disc I31 and partially throughthe spacer ring I39. A screw I48 holds the eccentric I43 in place. Thus it may be seen that by loosening the clamping bolts I40 and I48 the eccentric I43 may be rotated to effect angular displacement of one of the pairs of sprocket teeth in respect to the other for the purpose of aligning the films in their proper relative positions.

A self equalizing pad roller generally indicated at I9 is provided to maintain the negative film 9 in engagement with the sprocket l8 and comprises an arm 20, mounted upon a rotatable shaft 2| projecting through the wall 5. The other end 22 of the arm I9 is pivoted to the central portion of a curved lever 23 carrying pad rollers 24 and 25 at its outer ends. The pad roller I9 is spring pressed into engagement with the film by a snap-over spring arrangement generally indicated at I45 (Fig. 2). The snap-over arrangement I45 is used on all the pad rollers shown in the drawings and is described and claimed in co-pending application Serial No. 27,157 filed June 18, 1935, mentioned above.

An arm I46 is secured to the shaft 2| and is pivotally attached at its free end to a second arm I41. The arm I41 is slidably mounted in a bearing I48 rotatably mounted in the wall 5. A spring I49 is placed over the arm I41 and engages the bearing I48 at one end and a shoulder I50, pr vided on the lower portion of the arm I41, gt its other end. The pad roller I9 may thus e held in closed position by the spring I49 or it may be swung upward by hand until the arms I46 and I41 pass their dead center position, at which time the spring will act to hold it in an open position. In order to prevent the pad'roller I9 from bouncing over splices made on the film, or from dropping in a sharp impact against the sprocket, if released when in a retracted position, I provide a pneumatic dash pct 26 comprising an enclosed cylinder 21 pivoted to the wall 5 at 28. A rod 29 is pivotally attached to the arm 20 of the pad roller I9 at one end and operates a plunger 30 within the cylinder 21.

From the lead sprocket I8 the negative film forms a free loop 3| and is then engaged by a driving sprocket 32 provided with a pad roller 331.l 'lThe film is then reeled onto the take-up ro Referring now to the positive film, it will be noted that both the take-up reel 34 and the supply reel 35 are mounted within lightproof casings 36 and 31 to prevent exposure of the entire raw positive film, should the printer be accidentally exposed to light. From the positive film supply roll 38 the positive film 39 passes around a pair of snubbing rollers 40 and 4| and thence out of the lightproof casing 31 through a lightproof aperture 42. From the aperture 42 the film 39 is drawn into engagement with a driving sprocket 43 having a pad roller 44 associated therewith. The film 39 then passes into the film printing gate generally referredto at 46 where the image from the negative film 9 is printed thereon. On leaving the film printing gate 46 the film is led onto the smaller toothed surfaces I31 and I38 of the common double sprocket I8. The surfaces I31 and I38 are provided with a pad roller 49 similar in principle to pad roller I9 and which also has a pneumatic dash pot 50 associated therewith. The pad roller 49 comprises an arm 5| mounted on a shaft 52 which is rotatably mounted in the wall 5; the other end 53 of the arm 5| is pivotally attached to a curved arm 54 which carries rollers 55 and 56. The pad roller 49 is pressed into engagement with film 39 by a spring arrangement |5| (Fig. 2). An adjustable stop 51 provided on the bottom portionof the arm 5| is adapted to strike against a stop 58 provided on the wall 5 to limit the pressure of the rollers 55 and 56 upon the positive film 39.

From the common lead sprocket I8 the film within a light-proof housing 69 which is secured in any suitable way to the wall 5. A reflector 10 assists in directing the light rays from lamp 61 downwardly, through a tube 1| situated below the lamp housing 69 and opening thereinto. The tube 1| communicates with a passage 12 within a film guide 13 forming part of the film projecting gate I6. The negative film 9 is guided under the curved edge 14 of the film guide or support 13 and is held into engagement therewith by a pressure pad 15 which is pivoted to the wall 5 at 15' and is pressed into engagement with the film 9 by means of a spring 16 (see Fig. 1). The bottom of the pressure pad 14 is provided with an aperture 11 through which the light is allowed to pass. A

faces I" and I.

amass! condenser lens II is provided within the sage 12 of the film guide 18.

As was stated before. masks having slits or apertures of various lengths may be interposed in the path of the printer light rays so as to print only desired portions of the film. Such masks are shown in Figs. 10, Hand 12 wherein the mask It is provided with a slit II which is of a length equal to that of the combined picture and sound track. Therefore the mask II will print both the picture and sound track'upon the positive film. The mask '2 is provided with an'aperture 82 of the same length as the picture part of the film while the mask 04 is provided with an aperture 85 commensurate with the width of the sound track. Any one of the masks ll. .2 or II may be placed within an aperture It provided in thelowerpartofthefilmguide ll aswillbe seen in Figs. 3 and 4. Below the film projection gate I. is mounted a tube 88 the lower end of which communicates with a prismatic reflector I! which pasrefiects the light rays 0| at right angles to their original path. Above the prism II is a compensating element I28. This compensating element i2. is here shown as a bi-convex spherical element, but it may equally well be a plain parallel element or a cylindrical element according as one may wish to print one or another standard type of sound track.

Adjacent to the reflector It is a pair of objective lenses II and 92 through which the reflected light rays pass before reaching the film printing gate 46. The film gate 46 comprises a film guide or support 02 placed in a vertical position with one end It thereof adjacent the smaller toothed surfaces I21 and ill of the lead sprocket II. The positive film Ills led over the curved face I! of the guide I! and thence tangentially onto a portion of the periphery of the toothed sur- Edge guiding rollers .0 keep the positive film in edgewise alignment while traveling through the film gate ll. A pressure pad 01 which is pivoted at I. is spring pressed against the film It as by springs 80 (see Fig. 1).

Referring again to Fig. 4, it will be noted that as the negative film I passes in the direction of the arrow A through the printing gate it, there will be a scanning action of the image of the negative due to the film moving across the illuminated area. This scanning action or movement of the image will be in the direction of the arrow B. When refiected by the prism I the sweep of the image will be changed into downward direction as shown by the arrow C. This downward motion of the image is inverted by the objective lens II and as into an upward motion in the direction of the arrow D which will be in the same direction and at the same speed as that of the positive film 38.. It is to be noted that the size and speed of the image produced upon the positive film It bears the same relation to the size and speed of the image produced by the negative film 9 at the film gate l0 asthespeed of the positive film 29 does to the speed of the negative film 9. Therefore the image will be stationary relative to the moving podtive film It.

- I will now describe the driving mechanism for the various drive sprockets and reels. Referring to Fig. 2, it will be noted that a single motor ll. drives the entire mechanism. The motor I is mounted on a bracket II I, provided on the rear of the wall 5 and drives a worm "2 through a coupling I". The worm I02 drives a worm gear I rigidly secured to a shaft III which is journaledwithinabearlngformedinthewallland carriesatits otherendthefilmdrivingsprocket i2. Becurelymountedontheshaft llldirectlyin backof the worm gear lllisachainsprocket ill adaptedtodriveachain ll'lwhichinturndrives a large sprocket Ill, mounted upon a shaft I". Also mounted upon the shaft III is a flywheel Ill shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2.

Referring now to Fig. 5, the shaft III is lownaledwithin ball bearings ill and Ill, the hearing Ill being mounted within an aperture 2 provided in the wall I while the bearing III is mounted in an upstanding bracket ill mounted on top of a box section III forming part of the main casting. A flywheel II! is moimted upon the shaft ll! adjacent the chain'sprocket Ill.

'Boththefiywheellliandthesprocketlllaresecurely fastened to the shaft as by a key I II. The front end of shaft ill projects through the wall I and carries the common lead sprocket II.

Mounted on the shaft III behind the sprocket I is a second sprocket (not shown) which is adapted to drive a chain ill. The chain ll'i travels under a tensioning roller Ill, thence up over a sprocket Ill mounted on a shaft I20 which isjournaledwithinthewalllandcarriesatits other end the drive sprocket 22. From the sprocket III the chain III travels down lmder a sprocket "I which is connected through a shaft l2l' to the drive sprocket 62. From here the chain travels under sprocket I22 which drives the sprocket 0 and thence back to the drive sprocket situated on the shaft I".

Referring now to the means for driving the take-up reels, it will be noticed that the spindle 2ofthetake-upreellhasontherearend thereof a pulley I23 adapted to be driven by an endless belt I24 which in turn is driven by a pulley l2 mounted on the shaft l2. adjacent the sprocket'l it. The belt I24 is provided with sufficient tension to operate the take-up reel I but is adapted to slip sufficiently to prevent overtensioning of the film.

The spindle of the take-up reel 3! is also provided'witha pulley I25 which is driven by a chain l2. The chain I26 is driven by a pulley I21 mounted on the shaft Hi.

What is claimed is:

1. An optical reduction printer comprising a pair of feed sprockets for films of different sizes, a pair of take-up reels for said film, a hold-back sprocket for each of said films, a common sprocket having sets of sprocket teeth of diiferent diameters and adapted to advance said films intermediate said feed sprockets and said hold-back sprockets, free loops being formed between said common smocket and said hold back sprockets. separated apertures at substantially right angles to one another, said films being advanced by said common sprocket at different speeds corresponding to the difference in sizes of said films past respective apertures, and means positioned intermediate the larger set of sprocket teeth for maintaining a film on said smaller set of sprocket teeth. said means comprising pad rollers poationed within the circumference of said larger set of said sprocket teeth.

2. A printer for printing a certainsize positive from a larger size negative comprising a supply reel for said negative and a take-up reel for said negative, 9. supply reel and take-up reel for said positive, respective feed. sprockets for said negative andpositive and respective hold-back sprockets for said negative and positive, sprocket wheels adapted to rotate with said sprockets. means for interconnecting all of said sprocket wheels for common operation thereof, an integral combination sprocket intermediate said holdback and said feed sprockets, said common sprocket being driven synchronously with said feed and hold-back sprockets, means for projecting a light beam from said larger negative to said smaller positive at points adjacent said common sprocket, and means for stiffening said film between said projection points and the respective portions of said common sprocket, said means including curved shoes for guiding said film tangentially on said portions,

3. In asystem for optically printing a smaller positive from a larger negative, the combination of a sprocket having a pair of large sprocket teeth rings and an intermediate smaller pair of sprocket teeth rings, said larger pair advancing said negative and said smaller pair advancing said positive, a pair of dampened resilient means for retaining said films on said sprocket, one of said pairs being positioned intermediate said larger sprocket teeth rings and within the circumference of said larger sprocket teeth rings,

a pair of aperture gates for said films, said gates being positioned at right angles to one another, and means for maintaining said films in 'a predetermined curved position intermediate the apertures in said gates and the respective sprocket teeth rims, said last mentioned means providing stifiness to said films between said respective sprocket teeth rings and the respective apertures of said gate.

4. An optical printer comprising a supply reel and a take-up reel for a negative film, a supply reel and take-up reel for a positive film, a feed sprocket and a hold-back sprocket for said negative film, a feed sprocket and a hold-back sprocket for said positive film, means adapted to rotate with said sprockets, means for interconnecting said rotating means for simultaneously operating all of said sprockets, a combination sprocket intermediate said feed sprockets and said hold-back sprockets for advancing both of said films, said combination sprocket being driven simultaneously with said other sprockets, a pair of separated aperture gates adjacent said combination sprocket and positoned at right angles to one another, means for positioning said films in curved positions between the aperture of said gates and said combination sprocket,

and means for projecting a beam of light from one aperture to the said other aperture of diiferent dimensions in accordance with the record on said negative film to be printed on said positive film.

5. A printer in accordance with claim 4 in which said last mentioned means includes different sized aperture plates and an optical reduction system.

6. A reduction optical printer comprising a unitary sprocket with sets of sprocket teeth rings of different sizes, the smaller set being intermediate the larger set, a pair of damped resilient means for maintaining films on said rings, one of said pair being positioned within the circumference of the larger set of rings, rollers on said resilient means for contacting respective films, a light aperture for each of said films, said apertures being spaced from said rings, a curved film shoe extending from one of said apertures to the larger set of said rings for guiding film tangentially on said rings, and a curved film shoe extending from the other of said apertures to the other set of said rings for guiding film tangentially on said rings, the curvature of said shoes being in opposite directions at said apertures.

7. An optical printer comprising a supply reel and a take-up reel for a negative film, a supply reel and take-up reel for a positive film, a feed sprocket and a hold-back sprocket for said negative film, a feed sprocket and a hold-back sprocket for said positive film, means adapted to rotate with said sprockets, means for interconnecting said rotating means for simultaneously operating all of said sprockets, a combination sprocket intermediate said feed sprockets and said hold-back sprockets for advancing both of said films, said combination sprocket being driven simultaneously with said other sprockets, a pair of separated aperture gates adjacent said combination sprocket and positioned at right angles to one another, means for positioning said films in curved positions between the apertures of said gates and said combination sprocket, and means for projecting from said negative film to said positive film a beam of light of difierent dimensions selective in accordance with the record on said negative film to be printed on said positive film.

W. CARPENTER. 

